Hypnosis is the social interaction in which a hypnotist makes suggestions about perceptions, feelings, thoughts, or behaviors and a subject follows those suggestions.
Social Influence Theory: Theory that powerful social influences can produce a state of hypnosis
Divided Consciousness Theory: theory that during hypnosis our consciousness splits so that one aspect of consciousness is not aware of the role other parts are playing.
We are all capable of dividing our consciousness to some extent. When I go out for a long run, for example, I sometimes get so caught up in thinking about things that a mile goes by unnoticed.
Major Theorist: Ernest Hilgard (1904-2001) - pioneering hypnosis researcher and an advocate of the divided consciousness theory of hypnosis.
Hilgard’s in-class example: One day in class he hypnotized a student and suggested deafness. He challenged the class to prove the young man was not deaf (making loud noises, etc). One student asked if there was a part of the subject that was till listening. Hilgard asked the student to raise his finger if some part of him could still hear. Up went the finger. THe odd thing is that even the subject did not know why he had raised his finger until it was explained to him after the demonstration.
Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale - about 10% are poor subjects, and an equal number are highly hypnotizeable; the rest fall in the middle. The higher you are on the scale, the more easily you can be hypnotized and the more easily you will respond to suggestions.
Hypnosis is the social interaction in which a hypnotist makes suggestions about perceptions, feelings, thoughts, or behaviors and a subject follows those suggestions.
Social Influence Theory: Theory that powerful social influences can produce a state of hypnosis
Divided Consciousness Theory: theory that during hypnosis our consciousness splits so that one aspect of consciousness is not aware of the role other parts are playing.
We are all capable of dividing our consciousness to some extent. When I go out for a long run, for example, I sometimes get so caught up in thinking about things that a mile goes by unnoticed.
Major Theorist: Ernest Hilgard (1904-2001) - pioneering hypnosis researcher and an advocate of the divided consciousness theory of hypnosis.
Hilgard’s in-class example: One day in class he hypnotized a student and suggested deafness. He challenged the class to prove the young man was not deaf (making loud noises, etc). One student asked if there was a part of the subject that was till listening. Hilgard asked the student to raise his finger if some part of him could still hear. Up went the finger. THe odd thing is that even the subject did not know why he had raised his finger until it was explained to him after the demonstration.
Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale - about 10% are poor subjects, and an equal number are highly hypnotizeable; the rest fall in the middle. The higher you are on the scale, the more easily you can be hypnotized and the more easily you will respond to suggestions.